The function of a stuffing machine tension sleeve is well known in the food stuffing art and reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. Re. 30,390 for a detailed description of the function and operation of the tension sleeve. It is sufficient for purposes of the present invention to say that the tension sleeve described in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 30,390 is constructed of metal and is intended to be a permanent structural element of the stuffing machine. A shirred casing stick, which has a bore diameter larger than the outside diameter of the sleeve, is slipped over the sleeve until the fore end of the sleeve extends through the bore of the shirred stick. The shirred stick is then positioned on the sleeve and mounted thereto by a sizing means detachably secured to the fore end.
In more recent developments, the shirred casing stick has been placed on a disposable sleeve by the casing manufacturer. The sleeve is then attached to the stuffing machine and is removed and discarded after the casing supply on the sleeve is exhausted.
One advantage of having the casing manufacturer place casing on a disposable sleeve is that the user can be supplied with a greater length of casing than if a disposable sleeve were not used. This is because the bore of the shirred casing must be large enough to slide easily over the stuffing machine tension sleeve. However, when the casing is placed on a disposable sleeve by the casing manufacturer, the clearance between the shirred casing and the sleeve is reduced or eliminated entirely. Thus, the clearance space otherwise needed for the shirred stick to slip on to the metal tension sleeve of the stuffing machine is occupied instead by some quantity of shirred casing.
Connector means for releasably joining the disposable sleeve to a stuffing machine are shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,521,938 and 4,570,292. These Patents disclose disposable sleeves equipped with various configurations of male or female connector elements for joining to a mating connector on the stuffing machine.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,938 the sleeve has a plurality of separate fingers which snap into place over a male component of the stuffing machine. U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,292 discloses two connector embodiments; one wherein a male bayonet-type connector is on the sleeve; and another wherein a split flange is used as a female connector for clamping about a male component of the stuffing machine.
During use, the tension sleeve is periodically longitudinally reciprocated in short quick strokes about three inches or less in order to provide the slack casing needed for gathering and closing about the ends of the stuffed product. When a disposable tension sleeve is loaded with a full complement of shirred casing, as disclosed in these two Patents, the combined weight of the shirred casing and sleeve may be in excess of ten pounds. Accordingly, the connection between the sleeve and the stuffing machine must be strong enough to withstand the inertia of the article so as not to separate prematurely during use. On the other hand, the connection must be made and broken quickly and easily so that an operator can connect or disconnect the sleeve at will. For example, a minimum time period should be taken to remove a disposable sleeve after the casing supply is spent and to replace it with a new sleeve containing a full supply of shirred casing.
In the present invention the disposable sleeve is equipped with a connector component that is attachable in a snap-lock to a mating connector component on the stuffing machine. The snap-lock is such that it is strong enough to prevent the separation of the sleeve from the machine when the sleeve is reciprocated, yet is easily separated from the machine to replace the sleeve. A further advantage of the present invention is that it is adapted to mate with either a male or female snap-lock component on the stuffing machine.